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Lymphatic filariasis

Published on November 22, 2010   72 min

A selection of talks on Infectious Diseases

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0:00
This talk is about the diseases associated with lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic infection transmitted by mosquitoes. My name is Professor David Molyneux, from the Center for Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
0:19
Lymphatic filariasis has been described as a potentially eradicable disease. The international task force identified six diseases in 1993 which could be eradicated from Planet Earth. That means that no longer, any of these organisms would be on the planet. Lymphatic filariasis was amongst those infections. The World Health Assembly, in 1997, passed a resolution which called for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem. The first series of slides in this lecture demonstrate the public health problem experienced by millions of people who are infected by this condition.
1:04
All these slides were taken in the field, and the quotes are from the patients who are suffering from these infections. As you will see, they cause significant disability. They stigmatize people. They reduce their capacity to work. And they have a significant impact on the productivity of populations across the endemic areas of the globe.